different between floating vs duckweed

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?flo?t??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?fl??t??/
• Rhymes: -??t??

Adjective

floating (not comparable)

1. That floats or float.

   floating buoys

2. Not fixed in position, opinion etc.; free to move or drift.

   The outcome of the forthcoming election is still unclear due to the large number of floating voters.

   In China, the large floating population has tended to gravitate to cities.

   You can drag the floating toolbars to any position on the screen.

3. (linguistics, of a tone) that is not attached to any consonant or vowel within its morpheme.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

floating

1. present participle of float

Noun

floating (plural floatings)

1. The motion of something that floats.
2. (in the plural) Material that floats in a liquid.
   • 1898, Journal of Microscopy (page 256)

     Plastic mud, brownish tinted, rich in floatings.

3. The spreading of plaster on the surface of walls.

Anagrams

• antigolf

English

Etymology

duck +? weed. Supposedly so-named for often being consumed by ducks and other waterfowl.

Noun

duckweed (countable and uncountable, plural duckweeds or duckweed)

1. Any of several reduced floating aquatic plants in the subfamily Lemnoideae of the family Araceae.
   • 1909, H. G. Wells, The Beautiful Suit

     But his face was a face of such happiness that, had you seen it, you would have understood indeed how that he had died happy, never knowing that cool and streaming silver for the duckweed in the pond.

Translations